The Leather Generation

Fossil is an American designer and manufacturer that was founded in 1984 by two brothers, Tom Kartsotis and Kosta Karsotis who named their company after the nickname that they gave their father. The brand designs and creates clothing, watches, jewellery and leather goods.

Their leather handbags are thought to be in market competition with higher priced designer brands such as; Mulberry, Prada and Miu Miu.

I spoke to Sarah O’Rouke, who is an assistant manager at Fossil, about her ideas and views on the brand and how she believes Fossils leather goods are a life time purchase.

See below for interviews

I also spoke to a customer who regularly shops in the store. She describes her favourite bag from Fossil, a Sydney Satchel, and explains how little the comparison is between her Fossil bag and her Mulberry bag.

By Pippa Smith

Watch for the time

Don’t know what to treat yourself to? Are you thinking about replacing an old watch?

Here are three watches that I have myself and that I highly recommend.

Fossil, Cecile: £115 – £155

The Cecile multifunction watch comes in many different styles: silver, rose-gold and yellow-gold with either a plain face or a coloured face.

This season, Fossil has brought out the Cecile with a different edge, leading its newest arrivals with the colours of spring: lilac, light blue and orange.

 

Watch Station, Michael Kors, Slim Runway: £145 – £329

The Slim Runway watch comes in a selection of different though mainly in the three tones of colours being: silver, rose-gold and yellow-gold with either a blue, pink or plain face, bringing the spring colours into play.

This season, Michael Kors has created both the leather and the stainless steel strap to integrate style patterns for the spring.

 

Watch Station, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Amy: £135 – £185

The Amy brings a slick edge to this style of watch, designed with a ray of colours, from blue, pink and orange to white, beige and black. This brings out the flare for spring but keeps the neutral colours.

This season, the Marc Jacobs design has shown the leather and stainless steel straps, integrating spring and style.

 

Pippa Smith

The Life of Coco Chanel

“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.”

Coco Chanel is an inspiration to the fashion world. From her little black dress to her Coco Mademoiselle perfumes.

She started off in a small shop in France, cutting and shaping her designs; little did she know she was going to be one of the biggest female designers in fashion history.

Since starting out, her legacy continues today, from her first iconic design, she has spread across the globe. Now, in the 21^st century, the fashion house of Chanel hold ideas in perfumes, make up, accessories including handbags and purses, and endless unique clothing. Her iconic black suits and little black dresses are still continued on in her designs.

Her full name was Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel and she was born August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. She is famous for her trademark suits and timeless designs.

Chanel’s mother died when she was very young, forcing her to be raised in an orphanage. Here, she was taught to sew and this was when her love for fashion was born.

In 1910, she opened her first clothes shop, designing and creating her own, intimate pieces and then in 1920s, Chanel launched her first perfume and introduced the acclaimed Chanel suit and the little black dress.

After her business took these thriving new heights, she introduced more of her own shops and the legendary ‘Chanel suit’ with its collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary to the fashion world; borrowing elements of men’s wear and emphasising comfort over the constraints of past-popular trends. Coco Chanel was the person who said goodbye to the corsets and hello to the little black dress.

Coco Chanel’s little black dress is one of the most idealised fashion icons in its industry. Its first incarnation was in thin silk, crepe de chine and had long thin sleeves. In 1926, the American addition of Vogue, released an article that highlighted such a Chanel dress, exclaiming it the ‘garconne’ which in English means ‘little boy look’.

Her initial triumph with the Chanel suit was the innovative use of jersey fabric that was manufactured for her by the firm ‘Rodier’ and traditionally relegated to the manufacture of undergarments. Her wool jersey travelling suit consisted of a cardigan jacket and a pleated skirt, paired with a low belted pullover top.

In 1971, Chanel was at the age of 87. Even though she was of great age, she stuck to her usual routine of preparing her spring catalogue but on Sunday, January 10 1971, Coco Chanel sadly passed away while staying at the Hotel Ritz, where she had stayed for more than 30 years. She was buried in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery, located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Coco Chanel’s philosophy was to emphasise the understated elegance through her clothing and designs. Throughout the 1920s, her popularity thrived because of these creative and unique designs.

She had  a unique beauty that the world came to love and embrace.

Pippa Smith

Viva La Punk: The Life and Fashion of Vivienne Westwood

The undisputed queen of British fashion, Dame Vivienne Westwood is considered to be the Coco Chanel of the 21st century.

Born on April 8th 1941, Westwood grew up in the hills of Derbyshire, exhibiting a subversive streak and soon became the co-creator of punk, advocate of radical styling bringing her love of culture into play, shaping her into the designer that she is today.

A born craftswoman, she spent her younger years altering her school uniform and playing around with dressmaking patterns. As a teenager, Westwood designed her own clothes, including tailored suits, while spending most of her money on shoes.

At the age of 17, Westwood and her family moved to Harrow in London, where she attended the Harrow Art School, studying silversmithing and jewellery design. Westwood dropped out of university after just one semester, explaining: “I didn’t know how a working-class girl like me could possibly make a living in the art world.” Little did she know she was soon to become one of the most iconic fashion designers of the 21st century.

Unsure of her career in the art world, she took a more conventional path by studying at a teacher training college to become a primary school teacher. During this period of her life, she still continued to express her artistic side by creating her own jewellery, which she sold at a stall on Portobello Road in Chelsea, London.

The undisputed queen of British fashion. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

After the break-up of her first marriage to Derek Westwood, Vivienne met her partner and collaborator, Malcolm McLaren. To the outsider, this was an unlikely pairing due do the five-year age gap and McLaren being an art school dropout.

In 1971, they opened ‘Let It Rock’, a shop selling 50s memorabilia, on King’s Road, Chelsea. Westwood soon began to make clothes to sell in their shop; the first fashion consignment was four Teddy-boy suits that she customised by changing the colour of the velvet trim. This insignificant change to the suit altered Westwood’s career, making herself known to the world with her extravagant styles. Let It Rock showed the first signs of punk with the BDSM fashion, bondage clothing, spikey dog collars as well as the scandalous hair and make-up.

A year later, the pair embraced the rockers of the 70s and renamed the shop ‘Too Fast Too Live, Too Young To Die’ with a skull and crossbones as their logo.

43 years on and Vivienne Westwood has continued to be a tremendous influence on the fashion industry, with young girls and boys aspiring to her towering standards of creativity and design.

The Vivienne Westwood Company seems unrecognisable from its original manifestation. In the 80s, it was completely under Vivienne’s own personal vision: there was one line, one direction, one seasonal collection and one shop. Now, in the 21st century, Vivienne Westwood is an international success with global outlets and four distinct lines: Red Label, Gold Label, Anglomania and Man, yet the company is still Westwood to the core.

In Westwood’s own words: “My clothes always have a story. They always have an identity. They always have a character. That’s why they have become classics. They keep on telling that story.”

Pippa Smith

Countryside Fashion

ZARA – JOGPUR (LEGGINS) – £19.99

ZARA – DOUBLE BREASTED RAINCOAT – £79.99

BARBOUR – QUILTED JACKET – £179

TOPSHOP – CLEAN EDGE FEDORA HAT – £25

KURT GEIGER – CHELSEA BOOTS – £150

OFFICE SHOES – HUNTER WELLIES – £79.99 [RANGES IN DIFFERENT STYLES]

Pippa Smith

What’s In My Make-Up Bag?

CHANEL VITALUMIÈRE

This foundation is great for girls who have dry skin, like myself, as is moisturises as well as giving you full cover. This foundation comes to £32.

MAC STUDIO FIX

This power gives you amazing coverage over your first layer of foundation, leaving you with an air brush finish, costing £21.50.

MAC MINERALIZE SKINFINISH NATURAL

This bronzer is one of my favourites as is covers the area’s best for a sun kissed glow, costing £22.

MAC GEL EYELINER

I have always used this eyeliner as it is great all year round. It doesn’t smug and it lasts all day, costing £15.

MAC HAUTE & NAUGHTY LASH MASCARA

This mascara is my favourite because you can use it in two ways. You can twist the bottom cap for a thick brush to give yourself some volume and you can use the top cap to get the lashes that the thick brush can’t reach, giving you long, volume lashes. This cost’s £18.

MAC MAKE-UP BRUSHES

• FOUNDATION BRUSH 190 – £27
• POWDER BRUSH 129 – £27
• EYELINER BRUSH 210 – £16.50

URBAN DECAY EYE SHADOW

I use the NAKED2 Urban Decay eye shadow because I like the brown, cream and grey colours. It is long lasting and you don’t need to keep re-applying which is great. It comes with a double sided eye shadow brush. Altogether, this cost’s £37.

Pippa Smith

Dogtooth and Tartan

Since hitting the catwalks of New York London, Paris and Milans annual Fashion Week, taking the square route was a huge hit for most of the fashion worlds designers collections. Coloured tartan and black and white dogtooth patterns have a twisted and witty modern charm bringing a Scottish sense to the modern day fashion industry.

Celine autumn/winter runway collection 2013 (Reuters)

This brings the iconic tartan back to 2012 of when Chanel shot their annual Métiers d’Art fashion show and paired with ‘Barrie Knitwear’, producing cashmere knitwear mixed with tartan patterns.

Nearly two years since the extravagant and beautiful catwalk took place, the style lives on.

Pippa Smith